Boy's Death Lengthens Family's Fiery Nightmare

"I heard someone screaming, `Help me, Help me,' " said Allen, 26. "It was hysterical and broken. Then I heard a man groaning. I could tell something was seriously wrong."

When Allen looked out the window of his Huntley apartment, it was obvious that something was indeed very, very wrong: Smoke poured from the house across the street as his neighbors ran screaming from their burning home at 10322 N. Church St.

In the confusion, Allen said, "We learned the boy didn't make it out."

Five-year-old Ditar Abdullai died in the blaze.

Firefighters from three departments worked frantically to battle the 2:30 a.m. blaze, breaking windows in an effort to save Ditar. But it was too late.

The smoke was too dense, the heat too intense.

Ditar became the first Huntley citizen to die in a fire in 17 years.

According to Judy Huemann, deputy investigator for the McHenry County Coroner's Office, the preschooler died of smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning.

The rest of his family escaped unhurt: his parents, Samir and Luli; grandmother, Refiga; two aunts, Flora and Tuti; and his 6-year-old sister and 3-year-old brother. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

"It's always hard when you lose someone in a fire," Huntley Fire Chief Dave Veath said. "It doesn't make it easy when it's a small child."

Tuesday afternoon, the charred remains of the Abdullai home took on a surreal air. Furniture, clothes, shoes and aluminum siding flung every which way littered the snow.

Family members clung to each other outside, their faces reddened by both tears and the cold.

More than 14 years ago, the Abdullais immigrated to the United States from Albania, according to Ditar's aunt, Gina Abdullai. The family has done well in their adopted country: Ditar's father, Samir, owns Sam's Sport Bar. His uncle, Luigi, owns and operates Luigi's Pizza.

Now the family is homeless.

But the loss of a child, not a home, was the only concern of the grief-stricken family.

"He was such a cute boy, smart and everything," said Gina Abdullai, her voice breaking.

According to Abdullai, who lives across the street from her relatives, the fire began in the basement. One of Ditar's aunts heard a noise and yelled for everyone to get out, Abdullai said.

"They were trying to find each other," said Abdullai, "Then they ran over here, screaming and crying."

In the confusion, Abdullai continued, they didn't realize that Ditar was missing. Each adult, she said, thought the other had grabbed Ditar.

"They didn't know what they were doing," said Abdullai, who has taken Ditar's family into her home.

The firefighters tried to find Ditar in the bed where he slept facing the bedroom window, she said. It took a long time before they found the child.

In the aftermath of the blaze, Abdullai said, family members are blaming themselves.

"They feel guilty," Abdullai said. "They felt like they could have saved him.

"They don't care about the house. They just want him. They wish they could turn it around."